Individuals around the world use skin brightening agents to achieve a number of cosmetic goals, including producing an anti-aging effect, correcting sun damage, and meeting certain cultural standards of beauty. Many commercially available skin brightening products, while effective to varying degrees, contain harmful ingredients, some of which have been linked to cancer. Thus, there exists a need for novel skin brightening agents and formulations that exhibit higher levels of safety and/or efficacy than agents currently on the market.
Malassezia is a genus of lipophilic yeast commonly found in the normal flora of human skin. Malassezia is responsible for a number of skin diseases, including tinea versicolor (pityriasis versicolor), seborrheic dermatitis, and atopic dermatitis.
Tinea versicolor is a non-contagious skin disease caused by Malassezia overgrowth that locally alters pigmentation levels. Malassezia yeasts have two metabolic pathways for synthesizing melanin and tryptophan-derived indole pigments. The indole pigments include malassezin, a tryptophan metabolite of Malassezia that may elicit melanocyte apoptosis and contribute to the depigmentation characteristic of Malassezia overgrowth.
The invention disclosed herein utilizes compounds produced by Malassezia yeast, including malassezin, and chemical analogs thereof, as the basis for safe and efficacious skin brightening compositions.